Microsoft office live small business build and customize your small business website beginners guide

Thank you for downloading Microsoft Office Live Small Business About Packt Publishing Packt, pronounced 'packed', published its first book "Mastering phpMyAdmin for Effective MySQL Management" in April 2004 and subsequently continued to specialize in publishing highly focused books on specific technologies and solutions Our books and publications share the experiences of your fellow IT professionals in adapting and customizing today's systems, applications, and frameworks Our solution based books give you the knowledge and power to customize the software and technologies you're using to get the job done Packt books are more specific and less general than the IT books you have seen in the past Our unique business model allows us to bring you more focused information, giving you more of what you need to know, and less of what you don't Packt is a modern, yet unique publishing company, which focuses on producing quality, cutting-edge books for communities of developers, administrators, and newbies alike For more information, please visit our website: www.packtpub.com Packt’s Brand Launch Packt Publishing has recently launched two new brands, Packt Enterprise and Packt Open Source,  improving further our ability to focus on very specific and, sometimes, niche areas.  Our Editors and  Development Teams are now able to dig deeply into their specialist areas of either Enterprise or Open  Source technology, improving our books’ focus and relevance.  Packt Enterprise Packt Enterprise will be the home to books published on enterprise software – software created by major  vendors, including (but not limited to) IBM, Microsoft and Oracle, often for use in other corporations. Its  titles will offer information relevant to a range of users of this software, including Administrators,  Developers, Architects, and End Users.  Enterprise is a growing area for us. If you are a Developer, Architect, or Administrator with a keen  interest in your specialist software area and a desire to write, feel free to get in touch with us.  Previous titles which would, if published today, fall under the Packt Enterprise banner include:  • • • • •   Programming Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009  Getting Started With Oracle SOA Suite 11g R1 – A Hands‐On Tutorial  Expert Cube Development with Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services  IBM Lotus Notes and Domino 8.5.1  BPEL Cookbook: Best Practices for SOA‐based integration and composite applications  development  Microsoft Office Live Small Business Beginner's Guide Build and customize your small business website Rahul Pitre Microsoft Office Live Small Business Copyright © 2009 Packt Publishing All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles or reviews Every effort has been made in the preparation of this book to ensure the accuracy of the information presented However, the information contained in this book is sold without warranty, either express or implied Neither the author, Packt Publishing, nor its dealers or distributors will be held liable for any damages caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by this book Packt Publishing has endeavored to provide trademark information about all the companies and products mentioned in this book by the appropriate use of capitals However, Packt Publishing cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information First published: November 2009 Production Reference: 1191109 Published by Packt Publishing Ltd 32 Lincoln Road Olton Birmingham, B27 6PA, UK ISBN 978-1-847198-74-7 www.packtpub.com Cover Image by Parag Kadam (paragvkadam@gmail.com) Credits Author Rahul Pitre Reviewers Maarten van Stam Editorial Team Leader Abhijeet Deobhakta Project Team Leader Priya Mukherjee Vivek Thangaswamy David M.Wenning Project Coordinator Leena Purkait Acquisition Editor James Lumsden Proofreader Andie Scothern Development Editor Amey Kanse Graphics Nilesh Mohite Technical Editor Tarun Singh Production Coordinator Aparna Bhagat Copy Editor Ajay Shanker Cover Work Aparna Bhagat Indexer Hemangini Bari About the Author Rahul Pitre has been writing software of one sort or another for 25 years, the last dozen or so of which he has spent mostly developing websites and web applications He runs Acxede, a software consulting and training firm in New York, where he oversees web application and content development for a variety of clients He holds masters degrees in Business Administration and Computer Information Systems Acknowledgments Several people contributed significantly to this book in one way or another, and I'd like to express my sincere gratitude to them Thanks to James Lumsden, Acquisition Editor at Packt Publishing, for making this book possible Thanks to Amey Kanse, Development Editor, for guiding me throughout its writing; his advice was invaluable Thanks to Leena Purkait, Project Coordinator, for keeping the book on schedule; she managed to so despite my occasional bouts of inertia Thanks to Abhijeet Deobhakta, Editorial Team Leader, and to Priya Mukherjee, Project Team Leader, for overseeing the creation of this book Thanks to Tarun Singh, Technical Editor, for accommodating several last-minute changes to the manuscript without losing his cool Thanks to Ajay Shankar, Copy Editor, for performing the unenviable task of correcting my grammar and to Andie Scothern for ably proofreading the final manuscript Thanks go to Hemangini Bari for indexing the book Thanks also go to Aparna Bhagat for designing the pretty cover as well as for the neat layout of the book Thanks go to Dave Wenning, Maarten van Stam, and Vivek Thangaswamy for painstakingly reviewing the manuscript; they caught my mistakes and made countless suggestions Their hard work has kept me honest and helped me write a better book Finally, thanks go to three people who probably will never read this book Thanks to my son Rohan and my daughter Ruhi for promising to buy it nevertheless And thanks to my wife Minal for putting up with me and managing our family in spite of me while I wrote this book All these folks deserve as much credit for this book as I About the Reviewers Maarten van Stam holds a B.Sc in Computer science (graduation in 1996, HIO, The Hague, The Netherlands) and worked as a software engineer for over 20 years He started programming dBase and Clipper (DOS) systems in the early 80s, followed by Pascal and C++ in the late 80s, C++/VB "for Windows" in the early 90s, and continues to program in VB.NET and C# as part of the Microsoft's NET Framework Maarten has specialized in Office development, NET, and VSTO and has received the Microsoft MVP award in the expertise area of Visual Developer—VSTO for voluntarily sharing expertise with others In addition to this role, Maarten takes part in several TAP Programs, beta tests, software design reviews, and advisory councils for software tools such as Visual Studio Team System and Microsoft Office In addition to working in the software business professionally, Maarten is also an organizational member of the Software Development Network, currently the largest developer community group in the Netherlands (www.sdn.nl) Besides tech reading this book, Maarten also reviewed Visual Studio Tools for Office 2007: VSTO for Excel, Word, and Outlook by Packt Publishing, authored by Eric Carter and Eric Lippert, Maarten's insights can be read and followed on www.maartenvanstam.nl, where you can find his blog that relates to all aspects of software development Vivek Thangaswamy is a software solutions developer and technical author living and working in the pleasant surroundings of Chennai, India His range of technical competence stretches across platforms and lines of business, but he specializes in Microsoft Enterprise application architectures and Microsoft Server-based product integrations Vivek is currently working for the world's largest software services company in Microsoft Technologies He holds several Microsoft certifications and Microsoft MVP awards He has a wide range of technology experience Vivek started programming in a DOS world, then moved to C, C++, VC++, VB 6, ASP 3.0; and eventually to NET in both VB.NET and C# worlds and also in ASP.NET/MS SQL Server 2005 He has a very good experience in Enterprise Collaboration Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 accompanied with the VSTO and NET 3.0 frameworks He started working in SharePoint from version 2003 Currently working with Windows Workflow Foundations and Windows Communication Foundations, he has very good exposure to Microsoft Commerce Server and Performance Point Server Apart from Microsoft Technologies, Vivek has an expertise in PHP, ColdFusion, MySQL, and PostgreSQL He has UI design skills using Photoshop and Flash, and has major interest in exploring open source technologies and innovating through them He has completed his Bachelor of Technology degree in Information Technology from one of the world's finest universities and is currently pursuing the Management of Business Administration in Finance degree Vivek has also authored the book VSTO 3.0 for Office 2007 Programming by Packt Publishing (http://www.packtpub.com/vsto-3-for-office-2007-programming/book), which released in March 2009 David M Wenning is a hospital pharmacist His interest in computer technology dates back to graduate school in the 1970s He became interested in applying computer technology to pharmacy practice, and took elective courses in programming languages and business computing In the early 1980s, the IBM PC was released and he purchased one of the first ones available The computer became an indispensable tool in both, his professional and personal lives Next came the Internet Already a weather hobbyist, he had a yen to publish his weather station data to the Web He became aware of the Microsoft Office Live Small Business platform and took them up on their offer for a free website under their beta testing program It quite turned out to be the right choice for him He had a good understanding of computer technology, but no familiarity with web design or construction Office Live made the process easy and he has been using the service for nearly three years now David is an active participant in the OLSB Community forum and a member of the Community Council, which he considers as an opportunity to provide feedback and input into the development of the platform Reports: Analyzing Visitor Statistics   The term visit doesn't have a universally-accepted definition What constitutes a single visit to a person may appear to be two different visits to a web server For example, you may get a call from a friend soon after you visit a website You may chat with your friend for an hour and then go back to your computer and continue from where you left off From your perspective, you visited the website only once The site's web server, however, may have stopped keeping track of you after, say, 30 minutes When you resume your interrupted visit, the server then may record it as a distinct visit Sometimes, web servers record visitors based on a unique cookie that they issue to each visitor This approach has two advantages: visits by robots are ignored because they don't accept cookies, and multiple visits by the same person can be tracked to get a more accurate count of unique visitors But this system is not foolproof either If you visit a site from your work computer as well as from your home computer, the web server may count you as two distinct visitors Such distortions tend to even out as the volume of the data increases It's difficult or even pointless to analyze data that consists of all of five visits, but as the volume grows, you can consider Reports accurate enough for all practical purposes What about Google Analytics? Google Analytics is perhaps the best hosted web analytics tool It has a comprehensive feature-set Its slick, interactive reports illuminate every imaginable web-traffic statistic And to top it all, it has an unbeatable price tag: free! The main reason for its universal adoption, however, is that it's integrated with AdWords, Google's advertisement-placement service If you advertise with AdWords, you can easily track the effectiveness of each ad campaign with Google Analytics For anyone who spends advertising dollars on AdWords, Google Analytics is an indispensable tool But Google Analytics has a lot to offer even if you don't use AdWords The statistical reports it produces are comprehensive They help you to tailor your site's content to a visitor's requirements Besides, you can customize Google Analytics' reports to suit your specific requirements Here's an example: if you monitor web statistics faithfully, it makes sense to filter out visits from you and your employees The Reports package doesn't have settings to filter out such internal traffic If you expect your website to have a significant amount of internally generated traffic, you may be at a serious disadvantage using Reports [ 226 ] Appendix E Google Analytics' reports are state-of-the-art Many web analytics pros consider entry pages and exit pages to be 'so 20th century' Reports, unfortunately, don't support newer metrics like click density, which identifies the hot spots on your web pages where visitors tend to click the most Despite all its limitations, however, don't dismiss Reports summarily Remember the following:     Reports suffice for the needs of small websites and novice webmasters If you're just starting out with web analytics, Google Analytics can be somewhat overwhelming Like Google Analytics, Reports are free too And if you use adManager, Microsoft's AdWords-like service, you're better off with Site Reports, which have built-in support for tracking adManager campaigns Reports are integrated with Office Live Small Business, which automatically adds the little chunk of JavaScript tracking code Therefore, you don't have to open yet another account with Google Analytics and add its JavaScript code manually to your web pages You must be familiar with HTML and JavaScript in order to integrate Google Analytics with your Office Live Small Business website The straightforward instructions on Google Analytics' website won't work with Office Live Small Business because of the way that Page Editor builds web pages My advice, therefore, is to start off with Reports if you're new to web analytics Use the package for a while and get a feel for web analytics After using Reports for a few months, if you feel that the package's simplicity is holding you back, by all means switch to Google Analytics [ 227 ] Oracle SQL Developer 2.1 ISBN: 978-1-847196-26-2 Paperback: 496 pages Database design and development using this feature-rich, powerful user-extensible interface Install, configure, customize, and manage your SQL Developer environment Includes the latest features to enhance productivity and simplify database development Covers reporting, testing, and debugging concepts Meet the new powerful Data Modeling tool – Oracle SQL Developer Data Modeler Detailed code examples and screenshots for easy learning IBM Lotus Notes and Domino 8.5.1 ISBN: 978-1-847199-28-7 Paperback: 336 pages Upgrade your system and embrace the exciting new features of the Lotus Notes and Domino 8.5.1 platform Upgrade to the latest version of Lotus Notes and Domino Understand the new features and put them to work in your business Thoroughly covers Domino Attachment Object Service (DAOS), Domino Configuration Tuner (DCT), and iNotes Explore other useful Lotus products, such as Lotus Sametime, Lotus Quickr, Lotus Connections, and IBM WebSphere Portal Packed with expert tips and useful screenshots Please check www.PacktPub.com for information on our titles F Answers to Pop Quizes Answers to Pop quiz 1.1 Click the Edit link against the Home page in Page Manager's page list Pull down the Web pages menu in Page Editor's top left-hand corner It lists all the pages on your website Answers to Pop Quizes The current page in Page Editor, in this case, Home, is highlighted Click About Us in the pull-down menu to bring that page up in Page Editor Answer to Pop quiz 2.1 Which of the following attributes make your website more "findable"? B—your site's title and D—your site's slogan These elements help search engines index your site correctly Therefore, it's more likely to show up in relevant search results Answer to Pop quiz 3.1 Georgia and Verdana are the preferred fonts for websites because: B They were designed especially for monitors Therefore, they're easier to read on-screen Answer to Pop quiz 4.1 Your website's Advanced design Features enable you to: B Tweak design features not exposed in the Site Designer or the Page Editor You can create page templates, for example, and customize the width of your site beyond the options available in the Site Designer Answer to Pop quiz 6.1 How many levels of navigation can a website built with Office Live Small Business have? B A website built with Office Live Small Business can have two levels of navigation at the most [ 230 ] Appendix F Answers to Pop quiz 7.1 In Office Live Small Business's lingo, a Module is: B A pre-packged mini-program that you can drop on a web page and configure it to perform a predetermined task Although it is possible to optimize pictures in Image Uploader, it's not a very good idea because optimized pictures make web pages sluggish True or false? False Optimization reduces a picture's file size Pages with smaller pictures load faster Downloading pictures from other people's websites and using them on yours amounts to stealing Therefore you should hyperlink to those pictures instead Right or wrong? Wrong When you link to pictures on other websites, you're stealing bandwidth in effect Answer to Pop quiz 8.1 Which of the following is NOT valid hexadecimal color code? C Hexadecimal codes can only contain the numbers 0-9 and the letters a through f They are not case sensitive Therefore, A, B, and D are valid codes Answers to Pop quiz 9.1 HTML contains instructions on A Formatting the text and other content on a web page You found this HTML markup on a web page: elephant What you think the markup does? B It displays the word elephant in bold letters when the web page is displayed in a browser [ 231 ] Answers to Pop Quizes Answers to Pop quiz 10.1 True or false? It's a good idea to add many keyword metatags to your page More metatags increase the chances of search engines including your page in more search results False A meaningful page title plays a big role in determining the search engine positioning of your web pages True SEO is all about tricking search engines in to giving better positions to your web pages in their search results False SEO services know secrets that can propel your web pages to the top of search engine results False [ 232 ] Oracle SOA Suite Developer's Guide ISBN: 978-1-847193-55-1 Paperback: 652 pages Design and build Service-Oriented Architecture Solutions with the Oracle SOA Suite 10gR3 A hands-on guide to using and applying the Oracle SOA Suite in the delivery of real-world SOA applications Detailed coverage of the Oracle Service Bus, BPEL Process Manager, Web Service Manager, Rules, Human Workflow, and Business Activity Monitoring Master the best way to combine / use each of these different components in the implementation of a SOA solution Illustrates key techniques and best practices using a working example of an online auction site (oBay) Oracle Coherence 3.5 ISBN: 978-1-847196-12-5 Paperback: 408 pages Create Internet-scale applications using Oracle’s highperformance data grid Build scalable web sites and Enterprise applications using a market-leading data grid product Design and implement your domain objects to work most effectively with Coherence and apply Domain Driven Designs (DDD) to Coherence applications Leverage Coherence events and continuous queries to provide real-time updates to client applications Successfully integrate various persistence technologies, such as JDBC, Hibernate, or TopLink, with Coherence Filled with numerous examples that provide best practice guidance, and a number of classes you can readily reuse within your own applications Please check www.PacktPub.com for information on our titles Index A C about us page copy, writing 89 new page, creating from template 86-88 re-creating 86 advanced design features about 63 activating 64, 65 site stylesheet, previewing 65, 66 site width setting, overriding 66, 67 using 66 Cascading StyleSheet 65 color scheme, website selecting 55 color theme, website customizing 155, 156 contact form creating 120, 121 setting up, contact us module used 120 contact information adding 122-126 contact us module 120 contact us page re-creating 90, 91 content, home page copy, writing 84 creating 82-84 crawlers 20 crawling 20 custom stylesheet borders, displaying around pictures 165-167 horizontal rules, styling 168 manipulating 161-164 navigation display issues 158 navigation links, tweaking 157-160 styles, playing with 167 using 157 B best practices, web pages broken links, fixing 198 description metatags, specifying 195-197 keyword metatags, specifying 195-197 title, specifying 193-195 book's companion site case study about the book section, rewording 104 answerable questions, selecting 102 owner section, rewording 104 page hierarchy, finalizing 104 questions, classifying 103, 104 question set, preparing 101 redundant information, eliminating 104 visitors, classifying 101 visitors, specifying 100 website purpose, deciding 100 bots 20 D data presenting, in tabular format 139 data, presenting in tabular format table, creating 140-143 document gallery 28 E e-mail account, Office Live Small Business creating 207, 208 deleting 210, 211 password, resetting 208-210 F footer, website customizing 40-44 experimenting 44 setting 39 G galleries about 28 document gallery 28 exploring 29 image gallery 28 template gallery 28 Google Analytics 226 Google Analytics' reports 227 Googlebot 20 H header, website building, with built-in theme pictures 147 building, with custom picture 148, 149 building, with logo 152 building, with logo and picture 150-152 building, without a logo 147, 148 customizing 145, 146 experimenting with 153, 154 setting 32 home page building 84 content, creating 82 copy, adding 84 editing 70, 71 layout, changing 74 page layout, customizing 76 page layout, selecting 74 template, creating 79 HTML 101 about 176 external content, working with 183, 184 headings, working with 179, 180 horizontal rules, working with 179 hyperlinks, working with 181 paragraphs, working with 178 pictures, working with 183 HTML module about 172 adding, to web page 172-175 markup, generating for hyperlink 182, 183 picture,s HTML markup, experimenting with 185 HTML tags 176, 177 hyperlinks creating 131 creating, to map page 131-133 working with 133 I image gallery 28 information pages See  also book's companion site case study about 100 book's companion site case study 100 building 109 content for section pages, creating 115 content for tpoic pages, creating 116 examples 105 information, organizing 100 information, selecting 100 section pages, creating 109 topic pages, creating 114 information pages examples about 105 appliance repair service 107, 108 book's companion site case study 100 children's art classes 105, 106 L layout, home page changing 74 content zones 74 [ 234 ] customizing 76-79 multiple zones 76 selecting 74 three, side by side option, selecting 75 M map & driving directions page creating 127-129 customizing 129 map and directions module 127 N navigation layout, website about 52 selecting 52-54 O Office Live Small Business about 11 advanced design features, introducing 63 advanced design features, using 66 default page 15 demo page 12 e-mail account, creating 207, 208 e-mail account, deleting 210, 211 e-mail account password, resetting 208, 209 home page 15 HTML tags 176 page editor 70, 119 preliminary points 11 reports 221 signing up 201-206 site options, setting 60 Office Live Small Business account opening 11 signing in 12-14 signing out 15, 16 website section, exploring 16 P page editor about 70, 119 commands 73 exploring 25, 26 home page, editing 70-73 modules 119 ribbon, exploring 27 page editor modules contact us module 120 map and directions module 126 stock list module 129 weather module 129 page manager about 17, 18 components 19 page properties, exploring 21 site actions tile 19 toolbar 19 page template, home page creating 79 saving 80 pictures displaying 133-139 working with 139 Pixie 160 privacy policy page building 93 copy, adding 93, 94 copy, writing 92, 93 creating 91 new page, creating from template 91, 92 R reports about 28, 221 accessing 222 conversion 223 conversion points 223 conversion rate 223 entry pages 223 exit pages 223 keywords 223 new visitor 222 page views 222 referrer pages 223 returning visitor 222 sources 223 unique visitors 222 [ 235 ] using, correctly 224 using, incorrectly 225 visitors 222 visitors statistics, analyzing 222 visits 222 template gallery 28 template properties, home page 81, 82 topic pages content, creating 116, 117 creating 114, 115 S V section pages content, creating 115, 116 creating 109-112 SEO about 189 features 190 issues 190 site backup about 215 site designer about 21 exploring 22-24 ribbon, exploring 24 site font about 56 selecting 56 site options display options 62 page alignment, setting 61 page options 61 setting 60 solutions about 186 customizing 186, 187 spider 20 starter website about 17 viewing 17 stock list module 129, 130 style, website selecting 50, 51 stylesheet 157 visitors statistics, analyzing 221 T tables creating 140-143 working with 144 tags 176 W weather module 129 web pages deleting 95, 96 don'ts 199, 200 optimizing 191 web pages, dos Adobe Flash movies, avoiding 192 best practices, following 193 HTML modules, avoiding 192 web standards, complying with 191 web pages, Office Live Small Business optimizing 191 web page template about 31 design component 31 information component 31 website backing up 215-218 building 32 color scheme, customizing 155 custom stylesheet, using 157 footer, setting 39, 40 header, customizing 145 information pages 100 restoring 219, 220 site title, experimenting 38 site title, setting up 32-34 slogan, experimenting 38 slogan, selecting 35 slogan, setting 35, 37 submitting, to Bing 214 submitting, to Google 213 submitting, to search engines 213, 214 submitting, to Yahoo! 213 [ 236 ] website section, Office Live Small Business about 16 exploring 16 galleries 28 page editor 21 page manager 17 page manager, exploring 18 site-management tool 17 site designer 21 starter website 17 website theme about 47 selecting 47-49 website title Acxede 32 selecting 32 [ 237 ] WordPress for Business Bloggers ISBN: 978-1-847195-32-6 Paperback: 356 pages Promote and grow your WordPress blog with advanced plug-ins, analytics, advertising, and SEO Gain a competitive advantage with a well polished WordPress business blog Develop and transform your blog with strategic goals Create your own custom design using the Sandbox theme Apply SEO (search engine optimization) to your blog Market and measure the success of your blog SharePoint Designer Tutorial ISBN: 978-1-847194-42-8 Paperback: 170 pages Get started with SharePoint Designer and learn to put together a business website with SharePoint Become comfortable in the SharePoint Designer environment Learn about SharePoint Designer features as you create a SharePoint website Step-by-step instructions and careful explanations Please check www.PacktPub.com for information on our titles WordPress 2.7 Cookbook ISBN: 978-1-847197-38-2 Paperback: 316 pages 100 simple but incredibly useful recipes to take control of your WordPress blog layout, themes, widgets, plug-ins, security, and SEO Take your WordPress blog to the next level with solutions to common WordPress problems that make your blog better, smarter, faster, and more secure Enhance your SEO and make more money online by applying simple hacks Fully tested and compatible with WordPress 2.7 Part of Packt’s Cookbook series: Each recipe is a carefully organized sequence of instructions to complete the task as efficiently as possible Small Business Server 2008 ISBN: 978-1-847196-30-9 Paperback: 408 pages Set up and run your small business server making it deliver big business impact Step-by-step guidance through the installation and configuration process with numerous pictures Successfully install SBS 2008 into your business, either as a new installation or by migrating from SBS 2003 Configure hosted web sites for public and secure information exchange using Office Live for Small Business and Office Live Workspaces Please check www.PacktPub.com for information on our titles ... BPEL Cookbook: Best Practices for SOA‐based integration and composite applications  development  Microsoft Office Live Small Business Beginner's Guide Build and customize your small business website Rahul Pitre Microsoft Office Live Small Business. .. you Preface About Office Live Small Business Office Live Small Business is Microsoft' s web-presence service for small businesses It's part software and part service In fact, Microsoft calls this... much to get started with Office Live Small Business You'll find Microsoft' s official system requirements for Office Live Small Business at http://smallbusiness officelive.com/Support/SystemRequirements